Thyagaraja (1767-1847)
Profile :-
He was born as the third child to Raamabrahmam and Seetamma in 1767 in the Telegu Vaidika family (Though there is a difference of opinion as regards the year of his birth. He was born on the fourth of May, the year being 1767 according to one tradition and 1759 according to another.) Thyagaraja was named after the presiding deity at the famous shrine at Tiruvarur and the name THYAGA-RAJA means the'Prince of Renunciation'.
He began his musical training in 1782 under Sonti VenkaTaraamanayya and learned a number of songs from his mother. During a span of eighty years he composed and sang hundreds of lyrics in praise of his beloved deity Lord Rama. Thyagaraja along with his great contemporaries Shyama Shastri, and Muthuswami Dikshitar, has enriched classical Camatic music. His spiritual attainments can be equaled only by his musical excellence.
The music of this greater composer is dedicated to the attainment of peace and happiness through sacrifice and renunciation. It is Bhakti Yoga at its highest. A remarkable feature of Thyagaraja's compositions is their poetic excellence and spiritual value. Thyagaraja's songs and his name spread far and wide during his own lifetime. A number of pupils came to him and he imparted to each a section of his compositions according to the student's voice quality and musical equipment. It is to these sishyas, we owe the propagation of the songs of the saint.
Thyagaraja's musical contribution is remarkable for its quantity and variety, as much for its quality. In his compositions there is a wide variety of form and type, from metrical compositions suggested by European band tunes, that were then familiarised at Tanjore, for example, 'Girirajasuta' and 'Raminchuvarevarura' to creations like 'Koluvaiyunnade', where sangatis are heaped and sahityas are moulded like pallavis. He takes his place among the musician saints of our country like Kabir and Purandaradasar, the latter having exerted a very large influence on him.
Some Incidents of His PerformancesIn 1802, he was invited to perform at his teacher's house before a select group of musicians he sang bilahari and then the kriti "Dorukuna ituvanTi."
At another time, he sang at the request of his guru, beginning at 8 p.m. and finishing only at 4 a.m. Serfoji Maharaja heared of his performance and invited him to visit the temple to be rewarded, but Tyaagaraaja rejected the offer, singing "Nidhi caala sukhama?" in kalyaaNi, which means Does abundance of wealth bring happiness? The king realized his mistake and visited the saint-composer, who cured him of a stomachache.
In 1805 Tyaagaraaja lost an idol of Raama, thrown into the river Cauvery by his brother, but got it back after 3 months. When he lost the idol, he sang sadly "Endu daagi naado,"Where has He gone and hidden Himself?
Tyaagaraaja usually went from street to street singing and begging for rice. Once a sage named Haridas asked him to recite the name of Raama 960 million times. After doing so, Tyaagaraaja went to offer his prayer when he heard a knock on his door. Raama, Seeta, and Hanumaan were entering his prayer room and he was blessed to see the coronation of Raama. Moved with wonder and devotion, he sang "Baalakanagamaya" (the anupallavi of the kritis "Ela nee dayaraadhu" and "Bhavanuta").
In 1810 his daughter was married, and his disciple WalajapeTTai Vekataramana Bhaagavatar brought a picture of Raama, walking all the way from WalajapeTTai to Tiruvaiyaar. Tyagaraaja sang "Nannu paalimpa,"overwhelmed by this act.
Once he visited Tirupati, but when he went to the temple, it was closed. In sadness, he sang "Teratiyagaraadaa" and the temple officials gathered round in admiration when they saw the door opening by itself and the screen falling aside. He sang "VenkaTEsha ninu sEvimpa" in his happiness at seeing the Lord.
Tyaagaraaja's compositions include the Ghana Raaga Pancaratnam (5 gems) in raagams naattai, gowLa, aarabi, shreeraagam, and varaaLi, his most famous and scholarly contributions to Carnatic music, and he delighted in singing them. At the request of Kovoor Sundaram Mudaliaar, he sang the 5 kritis of the Kovar Pancaratnam. When he visited TiruvOTTiyoor at the request of his disciple Veenai Kuppayyar, he sang the TiruvOTTiyoor Pancaratnam. At the invitation of his disciple LaalguDi Raamayya, he composed the LaalguDi Pancaratnam. He also composed the Shreeranga Pancaratnam in praise of Ranganaata of Shreerangam and 5 kritis in praise of Sage Naarada. His numerous kritis include beautiful raagam, bhaavam and taaLam, with lovely lyrics,music, and devotion.
In 1847 Tyaagaraaja became a hermit, and on January 6, he died in the presence of his disciples. Two of his last pieces'Giripai' in Sahana and 'Paritapamu' in Manohari tell us that Sri Rama appeared before him and assured him of moksha within a few days. In accordance,the saint died on sixth January, 1847, when he was 88.
Article on ThyagarajaOn whose art no human hand can improve :-
This article is taken from Introduction to Indian Music by B. Chaitanya Deva Reproduced here for educational purposes only
"On whose art no human hand can improve"The life and work of Tyagaraja, the bard of Tiruvayyaru, is a miracle of miracles. For no musician, with exception of Purandaradasa, revolutionized and gave direction to Indian music as he did. So creative a musician and saint was he that he has come to be known as Sri Tyaga Brahmam, which is a reference not only to his creativity but carries with it a part of his father's name, Ramabrahmam.
The bulwark of a great culture, the Vijayanagara Empire, with all its glory, fell at the end of the 16th century. The invasion from the North brought in its wake new, though not always commendable, trends in living. Quite a few Hindu families had to flee to Southern areas which were still peaceful. Many found shelter under the benign rule of the Nayakas and the Maratha kings of Tamilnadu. Particularly, a number of Telugu families went South and formed nuclei of art and culture and Tyagaraja's ancestors belonged to one such stock, as he describes himself as descending from the Kakarla family (Kakarla is a village in the Kurnool District of Andhra).
Tiruvarur in the Tanjavur district of South India is a small hamlet; it is small in size, but has great sanctity hallowed by the memory of the three composers, the Trimoorty, of Karnatak music. In this village lived one Girija Kavi, a poet-composer attached to the Court of Tanjavur. His daughter and wife of Kakarla Ramabrahmam, Seetamma (Santamma?), gave birth to a son on Sarvajit, Chaitra, 27th Soma, Sukla saptami, Pushya (4th May, 1767). According to another tradition the year of his birth was 1759. The boy was named Tyagaraja, after Lord Tyagaraja, the presiding deity of Tiruvarur. In one of his songs, Tyagaraja sings, "Seetamma mayamma, Sri Ramudu ma tandri" - Seeta is my mother and Sri Rama my father - perhaps with a double meaning.
Ramabrahmam shifted to Tiruvayyaru, leaving Tiruvarur. The king of Tanjavur had gifted a house to him in this village and here Tyagaraja not only spent the major part of his life but also attained samadhi. Tiruvayyaru, on the bank of the Kaveri and known as Panchanada kshetra, was the abode of saints, poets and musicians; and of this place Tyagayya sings, "...the Panchanada kshetra in the beautiful Chola country, nestling on the banks of the Kaveri over which blows the gentle zephyr where holy brahmins chant the vedas...a town to be coveted even by Lord Siva".
Tyagabrahmam married, at the age of eighteen, a girl called Parvati who died without leaving any children. He then married her sister, Kanakamba. A daughter, Seetalakshmi, was born to them and she was given in marriage to Kuppuswami. They begot a boy who was named Tyagaraja (Panchapakesa?) who died issueless; thus came to an end the direct lineage of the composer.
Born and bred in a highly cultured family, Tyagaraja was a profound scholar and poet. He studied Sanskrit, astrology and was, of course, well versed in his mother tongue, Telugu. Besides, he was a highly trained musician, having been the disciple of Sonthi Venkataramanayya, one of the foremost singers of the day. His genius is evident in every song of his; but his immortal Pancha ratna kritis (the five gems) reveal the mastery he had over musical technique. Apart from thousands of songs of kriti type, he composed utsava sampradaya keertanas and divya nama sankeertanas which are sung in devotional congregations He has also created two operas: Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam and Nauka charitram. While there are a number of songs in Sanskrit, the majority of them, including the operas, are in Telugu.
One can speak of Tyagabrahmam's music only in superlatives and even these adjectives are pitifully inadequate to convey the exquisite beauty of his art. There is no hitch, there is no unwanted phrase, there is no laboured juxtaposition of word, music and feeling. To him music was so creative that he could not be bound in mere traditional grammar. He saw the potentiality in new melodies and from them gave forms to ragas like Kharaharapriya, Harikambhoji and Deyagandhari; at least he must have breathed life into such simple tunes to make them into ragas, if not produced them de novo. The rhythms used by him are also simple and are generally confined to talas such as Adi, Triputa, and Roopaka. Complex temporal and melodic patterns would not have expressed the lyricism of his mystic adoration. A beautiful elaboration introduced by him was the sangati as a built-in part of his kriti. These melodic variations convey so many shades of the main mood that all the finer nuances of text and music find expanded expression. It need not be offered as an excuse, but it is a fact that he was also as much capable of technical musicality as any learned grammarian. Tyagaraja's "five gems" in ragas Nata, Gaula, Arabhi, Varali and Sri, his songs in slower tempos and his famous kriti, Mariyada kadayya in Bhairavam wherein he, effortlessly, brings in a shade of Yaman Kalyan - all these and many more show a mastery of design and structure very much beyond the ordinary.
Tyagaraja's literary genius was as great as his musical genius. His command over Telugu and Sanskrit lent not only an erudite dignity to his songs but gave a rare felicity and homeliness to his diction. He drives home great truths with unerring aim but with extreme simplicity of simile. "What does it matter whether the fool, who does not, gain punya (religious merit) when opportunity presents itself, lives or is dead?...Of what avail is it whether blind eyes, however large, are open or closed?". Again, "The fault or goodness is not yours, Lord! It is mine. (Why blame Thee?). If one's daughter is unable to bear the labour-pains, why blame the son-in-law?".
Spiritually he was one of the rare souls who gave up everything except bhakti and cared for nothing else beyond the Grace of God. The early influences on his life make this trend more pronounced. The Bhagavata of Bammera Potana, the mystic poet of Andhra, was for him a book of daily parayana (recitation). Indeed there is a close parallel between the thoughts and lives of these two. The devaranamas of Purandaradasa were fed to him as if they were his mother's milk. Such early environments led to a positive direction by initiation into yoga. It is supposed that he was given the Rama Taraka Mantra by one sanyasi, Sri Ramakrishnananda. Tyagaraja's father's fellow scholar and a yogi, Sri Upanishad Brahmendra of Kanchipuram, also exerted a great influence on him. So also the works and per- sonality of Narayana Teertha, the author of Krishnaleela Tarangini, had considerable effect on the musician.
The only things that mattered to Tyagayya were music and bhakti - they were synonymous. "Is there a sacred path than music and bhakti?". "O Mind, salute the gods of the seven notes". "The knowledge of music, O Mind, leads to bliss of Union with the Lord". Music was to him the meditation on the Primordial Sound: "I bow to Sankara, the embodiment of Nada, with my body and mind. To Him, the essence of blissful Samaveda, the best of the vedas, I bow. To Him who delights in the seven swaras born of His five faces I bow".
Tyagaraja was a great bhakta; the only meaningful act for him was complete surrender to Him whom he called Rama. In the song Ika gavalasina, he sings, "What more do you want, O Mind ! Why are you not happy? When the Lord of the Universe has rested in your heart - what more do you want, O Mind?"
There was not a moment of his life which was not filled with Rama. His songs sing of Him who was a friend, a master, a father,- anything he could conceive of. Hearing of Rama's name was to Tyagaraja like "obtaining a large kingdom". And how could he desist from singing His praises - "Is there any bliss greater than this: to dance, to sing and to pray for His presence." "Did not the Lord incarnate wish to wear the garland of ragas woven by Tyagaraja?"
The worship of His feet (padasevana) was a privilege; but to worship his sandals, (padua) was indeed a fortune. "Rama, clear my doubt. Are Your holy feet worshipped by Narada, great or Your sandals? The sages who worshipped Your feet became equal to You; but Bharata worshipped Your sandals and got Your very self". Day in and day out His worship became a matter of daily living to Tyagaraja. He sang songs to wake the Lord, to bathe Him, to feed Him, to please Him and to put Him to bed - "You are tired after wandering in the forest and conquering Ravana; rest in the lotus of Tyagaraja's heart". Of course, being close to Rama he could chide Him. "If you present Yourself before me, what wealth will You lose? Why this intractability?"
The word Rama (RA-MA) was to him a Numen that transcended all names. It would be more than absurd to attribute any sectarian leanings to Tyagaraja. He sings, "As what did they define You? How did they worship You? - as Siva, as Madhava, as Brahma born of Lotus or as Parabrahma, the Trans-Godhead? I prostrate myself before those who know the secret of MA as the life of Siva-mantra and RA as the life of Narayana-mantra".
This complete surrender naturally made him live a life of detachment, though he was a house holder. The first and foremost result was that he refused to earn a livelihood. He had a house to live in and that was enough shelter. For food, every morning he would go round the village asking for alms - unchavritti, as it is called; and he would not gather even alms more than his daily need.
A life which steadfastly was uncompromising was not at all to the liking of his elder brother, Japesa, to put it mildly. Japesa fondly hoped that the great art and learning of his younger brother could be put to pecuniary uses, which the saint would not agree to. In desperation, the brother not only partitioned the ancestral house but went to the extent of throwing the Rama idol which Tyagayya worshipped into the river. The sorrow of the devotee cannot even be imagined. Many a song he sang begging the Lord to come back to him. In a dream he is told where to find the idol and his life becomes full.
Honours and wealth could have been his, if only he had asked for them; but he would not ask. He spurned an invitation of the King and sang, "Is wealth (nidhi) the source of happiness or is the proximity (sannidhi) of Rama?"
Tyagabrahma undertook an extensive pilgrimage of the sacred places of South India. Wherever he went he sang of the deity of the place. There is the famous incident of his visit to the Venkateswara temple at Tirupati. He goes into the temple to have darsan (vision) of the Lord; but the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum is covered with a curtain which prevents him from seeing the idol. The priests refuse to part the curtain. In great sorrow he sings, "Will you not remove the curtain?" ...and characteristically adds, "the curtain of vanity and jealousy in my mind". The curtain miraculously slides aside by itself and he is face to face with Him.
So much sincerity and surrender drew the ire of people around him and he could not stand their hypocrisy either. He speaks out bluntly about their pretences. "One who does not think of devotion to God, however learned, will be a slave of the senses and not be free from coveting others' women and wealth". There is a vast difference between seeing the Lord and going to the temple. "O Siva, is it possible for me to have your darsan? I have seen the spires, the pillars, the idols, the temple dancers, the rows of lights and made the due circumambulations. My mind has turned towards things external. But it is no child's play to instal Your glorious Form in the lotus of my heart!" Again, "Of what use is the possession of scholarship, in purana, agama, shastra, veda and the doing of japa to a deceitful mind? It is like dressing a corpse with a lace turban and precious jewels. Oh, give me the alms of highest (satvika) devotion".
Tyagabrahmam took sanyasa towards the end of his life and attained samadhi on Pusya Bahula Panchami in Prabhava (6th January, 1847). There is a poignancy about his absorption into the Godhead. He says in one of the most moving songs, "Unerringly I saw Sri Rama installed on the hill...Thrilled with ecstasy, with tears of joy, I tried to speak. He promised to bless me in five days." And so it happened.
Cleveland St. Thyagaraja Aradhana!
April 6 to April 15 , 2007
The Cleveland St. Thyagaraja Aradhana is the largest Indian classical music festival in North America. It was first celebrated in 1978 and has now grown to a week-long festival with more than 2000 attendees every year. The year 2007 is the Aradhana's 30th year. We are honored and humbled to have served the North American community for this long, and look forward to your continued support and patronage for many years to come.
We are planning to have more than 45 concerts over a 10 day period. In addition, weekdays of the festival will feature a series of lectures, workshops and demonstrations for visiting patrons and students.
In addition to performances by musicians from India, we will have concert performances featuring artists and talent from North America. If you would like to be considered for one of these slots, please contact Gopi Sundaram, and provide a résumé or bio-data. Note: You will get a reply to your submission only if you have been selected for a concert slot.
For the first time, the Aradhana Committee will be organizing a Bharathanatyam workshop conducted by two legends in the field. Participants will learn a complete margam, and perform on the final day of the Aradhana.
As a special event for the 30th year, we are planning a special inaugural concert by 30 music students from North America. We invite you to apply to be a part of this program. Further detail are available on the inaugural concert page.
The results of the music competition and dance competition have been posted. Congratulations to all the winners.
Beginning this year, the Aradhana will feature, in addition to our usual music competition, a Bharatanatyam competition. Please check our dance competition page for details on how to apply.
Recordings of the Pancharathna krithis in the style that we will follow for the group singing are now available to download.
Due to mounting expenses and a lack of funding, the Aradhana Committee finds itself in dire financial straits. To alleviate this, a select few concerts will be ticketed. Please read our appeal for details. Our primary source of funding is still donors like you, so please donate generously to help keep the Aradhana alive.
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